Pakistan cricket team has been announced for their next month’s T20 series against South Africa. In-form Mohammed Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman have not been included in the squad. Fast bowler Hasan Ali and hard-hitting batsman Asif Ali have marked a comeback to the team.
Babar Azam has been named captain for this three-match T20 series. Significantly, the South African team is on a tour of Pakistan after 14 years. The three-match series against South Africa will begin on 11 February.
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Pakistan has not included veteran batsman Mohammed Hafeez in its T20 squad for the series against South Africa as the veteran has failed to comply with the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) deadline to enter the bio-secure bubble by February 3.
Talking about Hafeez’s selection, Pakistan’s chief selector Mohammad Wasim said,”There is no question about Hafeez’s performance, but he will not be available on February 3 when the team enters the bio bubble.”
Hafeez is currently participating in the Abu Dhabi T10 League, which will end on 6 February.
Mohammad Wasim said that the team has been selected considering the recent form of the players and the T20 World Cup to be held this year.
The 40-year-old Mohammad Hafeez is in the best form of his career and has scored 502 runs in the last 12 T20 innings at a strike rate of 153.
After the squad of Pak vs SA T20 series was announced, the veteran batsman took to twitter to express his feelings as he wrote,”Indeed Allah is with the patient”.
إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ ٢:١٥٣
“Indeed ALLAH is with the patient” pic.twitter.com/ff1VLMpmwv— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) January 31, 2021
Talking about Fakhar Zaman, he has been in poor form for a long time and has only scored 97 runs in the last 10 T20 innings. He was also not part of the national team in the T20 series against New Zealand after testing positive for Coronavirus.
Pakistan and South Africa are currently playing the Test series, in which Pakistan defeated South Africa by 7 wickets in the first Test match on the back of a brilliant performance from spin bowlers.
Pakistan’s T20 squad: Babar Azam (Captain), Hyder Ali, Khushdil Shah, Hussain Talat, Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, Iftikar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Zafar Gohar, Faheem Ashraf, Aamir Yamin, Ammad Batt, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hussain, Hasan Ali, Usman Qadir, Zahib Mehmood
